Leaked GOP memo: How to spin delay for unemployment benefits

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to move ahead with legislation restoring — for three months — unemployment benefits to 1.3 million Americans that expired on Dec. 28. In the House, however, Republican leaders are telling the rank and file how to “spin” a delay.

A leaked memo from the House Republican Conference, chaired by Washington’s Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, surfaced in the Washington Post and other news outlets, giving “talking points” on unemployment insurance as well as suggested answers to questions on why benefits aren’t being extended.

House Speaker John Boehner and Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers speak at a press conference. McMorris Rodgers is chair of the House Republican Conference, which sends “talking points” to GOP members.

The chief advice: Express sympathy in soft focus. Or as the suggested talking point puts it:

“For every American out of work, it’s a personal crisis for them and their family. That’s why House Republicans remain focused on creating jobs and growing the economy.”

A second familiar theme: Go negative on Washington, D.C., while subtly suggesting that unemployment is a kind of handout. In the words of the talking point:

“Washington has lost its priorities if it’s more focused on making unemployment easier to tolerate than it is getting people back to work and restoring independence all together.”

The Democratic-run Senate is likely to pass an extension of benefits. Six Republican senators joined Democrats in voting to limit debate. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., is a co-sponsor of the extension.

Allowing that a bill is coming the House’s way, the McMorris Rodgers memo tells Republican members to parry it with the following explanation:

“If Democrats can produce a plan that is fiscally responsible as well as does something to actually create jobs, the House will give it proper consideration. Until then, our focus will remain where it belongs, on creating jobs and putting America back to work.”

One Congress member who hasn’t gotten the word — he’s a Democrat — is freshman Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash. Kilmer represents an Olympic Peninsula district whose population centers like Grays Harbor have felt the Great Recession. If the Senate passes an extension, argued Kilmer, the House should follow — now.

“I applaud the Senate for moving forward in a bipartisan fashion to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, and call on the House leadership to bring this bill up for a vote right away. With so many who lost their jobs during the recession still struggling to find work, we need to extend it right away.”

The McMorris Rodgers memo gives Republicans additional counsel on what to say if constituents echo the sort of impatience voiced by Kilmer. The hint: Ending benefits will boot the unemployed back into the job market. Suggested lines:

— “With our unemployment rate at 7 percent and dropping, it would be within the historic norm to allow the ’emergency’ benefit to expire.”

— “Even the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has found that extending the program will lead to some workers reducing the intensity of their job search and staying unemployed longer.”

The memo notes that a state unemployment benefits program in North Carolina ended in July, and that the Tarheel State’s unemployment rate has fallen from 8.9 percent to 7.4 percent.